"They won't silence us' Activist's vow after ambush and beating
The Guardian Weekly|July 05, 2024
Opposition is pinning its hopes on parliamentary elections in October, amid attacks on government critics
Pjotr Sauer
"They won't silence us' Activist's vow after ambush and beating

Zuka Berdzenishvili's face was a canvas of rainbow colours, his piercing blue eyes partly bloodstained above a pronounced purple bruise.

Berdzenishvili, a prominent activist and co-founder of the Georgian pro-democracy movement Shame, was ambushed and beaten outside his house last month by a group of unknown assailants.

"I got lucky. I had just arrived home on my scooter and was still wearing a helmet when they started beating me. Without it, my brain would have turned to soup,' he said, speaking outside the Georgian parliament in central Tbilisi, where a month earlier the ruling Georgian Dream party passed a controversial "foreign agents" law that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in protest.

The law has also derailed Georgia's long-held EU aspirations in favour of closer ties with Moscow. Mass protests in the country have largely faded away since it was passed.

Meanwhile, the Georgian government is doubling down on its anti-western shift before parliamentary elections in October, openly casting critics as traitors and accused of orchestrating violence against them.

More than a dozen NGO workers, opposition politicians and activists have been targeted by unidentified gangs, which are widely believed to have links to the government.

Berdzenishvili's attack came just after the speaker of Georgia's parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, accused him and other activists in a Facebook post of engaging in "politically motivated terror" sponsored by the EU.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 05, 2024 من The Guardian Weekly.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 05, 2024 من The Guardian Weekly.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY مشاهدة الكل
Friendship interrupted
The Guardian Weekly

Friendship interrupted

They were best mates. Then one had a baby, while the other struggled to conceive. They share their brutally honest takes on what happens when motherhood affects friendship

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 22, 2024
KERNELS OF HOPE
The Guardian Weekly

KERNELS OF HOPE

During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection, the first of its kind, had to protect it from fire, rodents-and hunger

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 22, 2024
A new horizon' The inverse link between cancer and dementia
The Guardian Weekly

A new horizon' The inverse link between cancer and dementia

Scientists have long been aware of a curious connection between these common and feared diseases. At last, a clearer picture is emerging

time-read
4 mins  |
November 22, 2024
Across the universe
The Guardian Weekly

Across the universe

Samantha Harvey won the Booker prize with a novel set in space. Yet, she says, Orbital is actually 'a celebration of Earth's beauty with a pang of loss'

time-read
4 mins  |
November 22, 2024
Frank Auerbach 1931 -2024
The Guardian Weekly

Frank Auerbach 1931 -2024

Saved from the Holocaust, this artist captured the devastation of postwar Britain as ifits wounds were his own but he ultimately found salvation in painting

time-read
3 mins  |
November 22, 2024
Seven lessons I've learned after 28 years as economics editor
The Guardian Weekly

Seven lessons I've learned after 28 years as economics editor

Margaret Thatcher was Britain's prime minister and Neil Kinnock was leader of the Labour party.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 22, 2024
Droughtstricken dam leaves economies powerless
The Guardian Weekly

Droughtstricken dam leaves economies powerless

A ll is not well with the waters of Lake Kariba, the world's human-made lake largest A punishing drought has drained the huge reservoir close to record lows, raising the prospect that the Kariba Dam, which powers the economies of Zambia and Zimbabwe, may have to shut down for the first time in its 65-year history.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 22, 2024
Let this be the end of these excruciating celebrity endorsements
The Guardian Weekly

Let this be the end of these excruciating celebrity endorsements

I wish celebrities would learn the art of the French exit. But they can't, which is why Eva Longoria has announced she no longer lives in America. \"I get to escape and go somewhere,\" she explained.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 22, 2024
Alive, but unable to thrive under absolute patriarchy
The Guardian Weekly

Alive, but unable to thrive under absolute patriarchy

Since the Taliban returned to power, women and girls have tried defiance, but despair at their harshly restricted lives

time-read
4 mins  |
November 22, 2024
‘It's tragic’ Reflection in the wake of Amsterdam violence
The Guardian Weekly

‘It's tragic’ Reflection in the wake of Amsterdam violence

Carrying signs scrawled with messages urging unity, they laid white roses at the statue of Anne Frank, steps away from the home where her family had hidden from Nazi persecution.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 22, 2024